A new piece of DSG legislation may have student leaders counting their pennies.
Last spring, an addition to a Duke Student Government bylaw gave the Student Organizations Finance Committee, the financial overseer of all DSG-funded student groups, additional strength in determining how student groups control their funds.
Among the most significant changes to the SOFC bylaw are random audits of at least 10 student groups to be conducted by the SOFC chair by the end of the academic year.
The audits will be conducted by Internal Audit, a professional auditing service, but the eventual goal is to have representatives of DSG conduct the audits, said Trinity junior Randy Fink, DSG executive vice president.
According to the guide to the Organizational Reform and Responsibility in Budgeting Act of 1995, written by Fink, the audits will be "encouraging groups to maintain accurate financial records and offering a formal suggestion process for clubs having trouble dealing with finances."
Fink emphasized that these audits were not meant to be a punitive measure against student organizations. "This is a proactive step toward helping student groups better manage their money," he said.
Trinity senior Peggy Cross, DSG president, said that the changes were meant to be helpful to students who are engaged in a financial activity that is preparing them for real life.
"We want to create a process where students can see what they can do better," Cross said. "This is not to punish them. It is all part of a learning process."
Leaders of student groups say that, although the audits may prove somewhat inconvenient, they nevertheless support the change.
"I don't think we've had too much of a problem in the past, but this will force us to be thrifty," said Trinity senior April Preyar, president of the Black Student Alliance, a group with an annual budget in excess of $30,000. Preyar said she supported the idea that SOFC should play a greater role in helping groups manage their money. "The [financial] advising system has not been too extensive in the past," she said.
Although the bylaw addendum was passed in the spring, both Preyar and Trinity junior Lisa Weseley, president of Hillel organization, said the changes had not been brought to their attention.
"In order to make these changes helpful, [DSG] will have to tell us exactly what they'll be looking for in the audits," Weseley said. Hillel has an annual budget of approximately $8,000.
Student groups may not be fully aware of these changes due to the departure of SOFC chair Rohit Khanna, who recently transferred to the University of Chicago, said Trinity junior Husein Cumber, a member of the SOFC.
"SOFC is going to seem to be slow getting off the ground, but by the beginning of October, every organization will be brought up to speed," he said. A new SOFC chair will be elected Sept. 27.
Fink said the impetus for amending the SOFC bylaw was partially a result of the controversy last fall involving the Sigma Gamma Delta Honor Society.
The honor society was billed as a national organization by its founders, Rohit Kumar, Trinity '95, and Trinity senior Jed Silversmith, who sent out letters to 2,379 undergraduates in February 1994. Kumar and Silversmith invited them to join the organization, but it was later revealed that the society had no active chapters outside the University.
Because the organization had collected membership dues from students, some people raised the concern that student funds may have been used improperly.
Sigma Gamma Delta was cleared in an audit conducted by Linda Studer-Ellis, then assistant dean of University Life.
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